One man had £70 docked because he missed a job centre appointment when called into work. A woman working part time with caring responsibilities ended up threatened with eviction after sanctions pushed her into debt.

It found that in total UC would cut £2.7 billion from welfare spending a year.

The IFS buys into the government’s line that benefit cuts are about “incentivising work”. It looked for cases where people lose more in benefits than they gain in wages by taking on a small amount of paid work.

These cases are not typical and not the cause of unemployment. But even here the report found UC created such incentives as well as getting rid of them. It means single parents will lose more if they work—and couples will lose more if both of them work.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said, “We warned years ago that universal credit could not succeed if it was driven by a political agenda to cut support, rather than offering genuine help for unemployed people.

“It is clear to everyone that this supposedly flagship project is in disarray and is exposed as just another political attack on people who are out of work or on low incomes."